Mads Ostberg was fastest in Thursday morning’s shakedown at Rally Sweden after edging Craig Breen by a tenth of a second.

The Norwegian, driving his OneBet-backed Ford Fiesta WRC for the first time after missing the season-opening Rally Monte-Carlo, went quickest on his third and final run through the 6.86km Skalla special stage close to the Torsby service park.

“I have a lot of experience of snow and I’ll try to take advantage of that,” said Østberg, for whom this is his 11th Sweden start.

“My start position is good as well so if I can use everything to my advantage that’s my only hope. The other guys have more experience than me of the new car.

“Everything is new, the car, the team, everything. It’s crazy to drive this car, just fantastic. The speed we’re able to build between the corners is amazing, especially when you find some grip.

“I’m smiling but trying to hold back a little because it’s easy to do small mistakes. It’s a new way of driving,” added Østberg, whose M-Sport-entered car is run by Adapta Motorsport.

Dani Sordo set the pace initially in his Hyundai i20 Coupe before team-mate Hayden Paddon moved to the front. Breen then went quickest in his final pass before Østberg’s fastest time brought the warm-up to a close for the leading drivers.

Kiwi Paddon was 0.4sec behind Breen, making his first appearance in Citroën’s C3 World Rally Car after driving a 2016 DS 3 in Monte-Carlo. Kris Meeke was a further tenth of a second behind with Sordo and Neuville completing the top six.

Many drivers opted to use shakedown purely as a systems check, preferring to save their limited stock of studded winter tyres for the rally itself. Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Ogier was one, the Frenchman only 17th in his Fiesta WRC.

Leading Times: 

Volkswagen has abandoned plans to get its 2017-spec Polo World Rally Car out on WRC stages this year after it fell foul of FIA homologation regulations.

The German firm ended its manufacturer WRC programme at the end of last season, but later confirmed that it hoped to offer its all-new Polo to private teams that could run it in the WRC with support from Volkwagen Motorsport.

However, before the car could compete in the WRC Volkswagen needed to find a way to complete the homologation process that it stopped last year.

Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets confirmed that efforts to do this had failed.

“Following customer enquiries, Volkswagen Motorsport asked the FIA for a waiver of the homologation of the 2017 Volkswagen Polo World Rally Car, with the purpose being to rent it out to private drivers and teams," he said.

"It now turns out that this is not possible under the current WRC regulations. We fully accept the result, but at the same time regret it in the interests of our customers. We would like to thank the FIA for the very constructive discussions.”

Defending champion Sébastien Ogier was linked to a drive in a privately-entered Polo before he signed with M-Sport and his former team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen admitted after Rallye Monte Carlo that he hoped this year to be reunited with the car he helped to develop before it was mothballed.

Sebastien Ogier believes a podium at this week’s Rally Sweden to follow up last month’s Rallye Monte-Carlo victory would exceed his pre-season expectations.

The four-time world champion was a shock winner in the French Alps after hardly any testing in M-Sport’s new Ford Fiesta World Rally Car. However, he warned against reading too much into that success heading into the season’s only pure winter encounter.

“We had a dream start to the season at Rallye Monte-Carlo, but we can’t let that distract us. There is still a lot of work to do and Rally Sweden is a truly unique event,” he said.

“If we can secure another podium result it would be a fantastic start and surpass all of our expectations this early in the year. I see no reason why we can’t be quietly confident of that, but at the same time it will require a lot of hard work behind the scenes.”

Ogier’s fourth consecutive Monte-Carlo win put the Frenchman in a familiar position at the head of the FIA World Rally Championship after the first of 13 rounds.

But he believes the tricky Monte conditions, where guile and clever driving counted for more than pure pace, means it cannot be used as a reliable form guide for the new-era 2017 World Rally Cars.

“We’ve not yet seen everyone’s true potential and I’m expecting a very exciting and very close-fought Rally Sweden,” he said.

The Frenchman added two more days of snow and ice testing last week to the limited time he has enjoyed in the Fiesta after only signing for the British M-Sport squad in December.

“We had a really good test. Conditions were very good, very cold with icy roads and I hope we will have the same on the rally. It was my third and fourth days in the car on snow after two days in December, so I feel much more prepared now than I was before Monte-Carlo,” he told WRC Live.

“The feeling was very good but it’s hard to judge the performance as everything is new. Sweden is one of the highlights of the season, the speeds on snow and ice are incredible. That means you have to be very precise with little margin for error,” he added.

the WRC's only pure winter encounter is a cross-border event which ventures deep into the frozen and remote forests of Sweden and Norway.

Organisers have rung the changes by moving the rally hub further north to Torsby to increase the prospects of snow and ice covered roads on which the event thrives.

Almost 60 per cent of the competitive distance is new, although plenty of classic speed tests remain.
The action begins with big power slides at Thursday night’s spectacular super special stage at Karlstad trotting track before crews journey north for an overnight halt in Torsby.
Much of Friday’s longest leg runs in Norway. There are two identical loops of three stages, including the cross-border Röjden which starts and finishes in Sweden, with the middle section in its neighbouring country. Just the final Torsby test runs entirely in Sweden.
Hof-Finnskog has never been used before while Svullrya is driven in the opposite direction to last year.
Saturday blends two loops of classic Swedish roads near Hagfors, with the more northerly Knon test which was last driven 14 years ago. The highlight is Vargåsen, which features the famous Colin’s Crest, named in memory of the late Colin McRae. A repeat of the Karlstad stage closes the action.
Just two venues feature in Sunday’s finale. Two passes over Likenäs precede the live TV Power Stage at Torsby, which offers bonus points to the fastest five drivers. It offers a great conclusion with the test finishing inside the service park at Torsby airfield.
The 18 stages cover 331.74km in a total route of 1415.18km